President Meric Gertler’s response to members of Occupy for Palestine

What this document is

This is a letter published by the Office of the President of the University of Toronto on 8 April 2024, answering demands put to the university by the campus group Occupy for Palestine S025. It predates the encampment on King’s College Circle, which began on 2 May 2024, and it is therefore the university’s position as stated before the encampment rather than a response to it.

What it establishes

The university refused the academic-boycott demand outright. The letter states that academic boycotts of any kind are antithetical to the university’s fundamental mission and values, and on that basis rejects the demand to terminate partnerships with Israeli institutions S025. It describes the refusal as consistent with a longstanding position, dating back at least to the 1980s S025. The rejection is framed as a defence of academic freedom, freedom of expression and the unfettered circulation of ideas within the global scholarly community S025.

The letter also addresses divestment, recording that the university does not divest in response to political demands under its divestment policy, and that its pension assets moved to the University Pension Plan in 2021 S025.

This document does the work on this site that no press report can do: it is the university speaking for itself, in advance, in writing, and it is the reason the site states that the University of Toronto has refused the academic boycott rather than merely declined to act on it.

Key passages

The letter states that “academic boycotts of any kind are antithetical to the University’s fundamental mission and values” S025. The words are the president’s own and are quoted here as his.

How it is used on this site

The letter is cited on Does the University of Toronto support BDS?, the 2024 encampment, arguments against BDS, Canada’s position on BDS and the UTSU divestment vote, and in the glossary, key facts and timeline.

Provenance and access

The letter is published on the president’s own website and fetches normally. No Internet Archive snapshot of it exists. Under this site’s sourcing rules a pivotal source must carry an archived copy, and this is among the most heavily cited documents on the site.

Page history

2026-09-21: First draft.